Sanchez revered like Beckham – Wenger

Arsene Wenger likened the pressure on Alexis
Sanchez in his home country to the
hype that used to surround Beckham,
who became England’s villain for his
red card at the 1998 World Cup
before going on to lead the national
team as captain.

” would say you have in every
generation a player who carries the
pressure of expectation of a nation.

“In France it was [Zinedine] Zidane.
In England it was Beckham. We had
other players in the team but it was
Beckham. Why not [Steven] Gerrard?
I don’t know. But it was Beckham. In Chile it’s Sanchez. In Argentina of
course it’s [Lionel] Messi.

“It looks
like that there is somebody there in a
national team who has to carry the
pressure and absorb it and protect a
little the rest of the team. It’s someone normally who likes it a
little bit.

“They like to be on the front
line. Overall what does it mean? It
means they have to deal with the
lows as well. Remember 1998 when Beckham has
been sent off after [kicking] Diego
Simeone, he has been slaughtered
here, he’s not been picked for the
first two qualifiers after for the
European qualifiers.

“He has been treated in this country
like a guy who has killed somebody.
These players have to take both the
positives and the negatives as well,” Wenger said.

Sanchez was not due to arrive back in London until Thursday

Wenger added: “He is as well in a very difficult
mind. Chile just won the Copa
America twice and now they don’t
even go to the World Cup.

“Sanchez is 29 at the end of the year,
so the next one he will be 33. He
expected to go. Certainly [it is] a big
disappointment for him…. “

Meanwhile he also said that “But I believe to play
at the top level as well, it is part of
dealing with that kind of
disappointment.”